3 ms·

Ask HN: Looking for programming mentor in east bay area California

4 points by wturner 14y ago

Hello, I'll make this brief. I'm in my 30's and I have been programming for about a year and a half. I started with C++ and moved to writing with Javascript and web technologies. Thus far I have written an app that is a steel drum instrument emulator with audio effects (and a clean layout), developed a website that attracts about 2000 unique visitors a day and have worked on various small incremental projects.Books and Stack Overflow aren't moving me forward at this point and I need/want a mentor to work with.I have very little money but am willing to exchange labor,house cleaning,etc in exchange for your time. Contact wturner76[at]gmail Thank you

tagabek 14y ago
It seems like your skills are sturdy enough to create viable products. Have you thought about contract work or getting a job as an engineer? When I feel like books/SO/etc. are not working for me, I tackle an existing idea that I have.
- wturner 14y ago
  I am looking for a mentor to help me learn what I need to know to compensate for a lack of a computer science degree-based understanding of programming. I still learn from Stack Overflow and books, but I am not rapidly growing from them the way a mentor can lend with less effort. I've been trying to get work for 5 years. I briefly worked for a start up started by a fortune 500 COO but my time was spend on many things that I feel were/are wasteful - like weeding through tons of confusing disorganized team emails ( I didn't get paid for that). Plus it was on spec (they need to hit $40,000 revenue before I am to get paid) and there were some other issues. My "accomplishments" while there included styling a pop up widget, brute-force dissecting a JQuery plug in, researched various problems/solutions for product promotion and doing HTML/CSS work to reflect PSD files. Anyway, it all amounts to about $100 worth of work ($12/hr plus hours of "free" research) over the course of 4 months of asking,waiting,doing and playing along. But in terms of getting a more robust foundation for what I want to do - it won't happen tangled up in "busy work" and without a mentor. Thanks for the feedback. btw - I have an idea I'm working on . I always have an idea I'm working on. That's just a given. :)
orangethirty 14y ago
What you need to do is tak eon freelance projects. Working with real world stuff with help you progress more than any mentor. Should be dead easy to get work in the bay.
shazebq 14y ago
Try to find an entry level job or internship at a startup. Check out www.startuply.com. Most importantly, keep trying, reading, working on projects, etc. Also, join meetups in the bay area that specialize in your core technologies like javscript and send an email to the meetup list regarding job openings. Best of luck!

4 points by wturner 14y ago

tagabek 14y ago

It seems like your skills are sturdy enough to create viable products. Have you thought about contract work or getting a job as an engineer? When I feel like books/SO/etc. are not working for me, I tackle an existing idea that I have.

wturner 14y ago
I am looking for a mentor to help me learn what I need to know to compensate for a lack of a computer science degree-based understanding of programming. I still learn from Stack Overflow and books, but I am not rapidly growing from them the way a mentor can lend with less effort. I've been trying to get work for 5 years. I briefly worked for a start up started by a fortune 500 COO but my time was spend on many things that I feel were/are wasteful - like weeding through tons of confusing disorganized team emails ( I didn't get paid for that). Plus it was on spec (they need to hit $40,000 revenue before I am to get paid) and there were some other issues. My "accomplishments" while there included styling a pop up widget, brute-force dissecting a JQuery plug in, researched various problems/solutions for product promotion and doing HTML/CSS work to reflect PSD files. Anyway, it all amounts to about $100 worth of work ($12/hr plus hours of "free" research) over the course of 4 months of asking,waiting,doing and playing along. But in terms of getting a more robust foundation for what I want to do - it won't happen tangled up in "busy work" and without a mentor. Thanks for the feedback. btw - I have an idea I'm working on . I always have an idea I'm working on. That's just a given. :)

orangethirty 14y ago

What you need to do is tak eon freelance projects. Working with real world stuff with help you progress more than any mentor. Should be dead easy to get work in the bay.

shazebq 14y ago

Try to find an entry level job or internship at a startup. Check out www.startuply.com. Most importantly, keep trying, reading, working on projects, etc. Also, join meetups in the bay area that specialize in your core technologies like javscript and send an email to the meetup list regarding job openings. Best of luck!